Prize patrol catches readers in the act

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A Reading Prize Patrol catches students in the act of brain building.

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Photo by Sara WrightFaith Knutson, 5, and her brother Jaiden, 8, are caught reading Friday afternoon in their Edgefield home by Principal Christine Brown and Literacy Coach Melissa Holland of the Bluffton Elementary School Reading Prize Patrol.

Photo by Sara WrightBluffton Elementary School Principal Christine Brown shows Faith Knutson, 5 and Jaiden Knutson, 8, some of the prizes they won for being caught reading Friday by the Reading Prize Patrol.

Photo by Sara WrightBurton Dougherty, 6, reads before, during and after the Reading Prize Patrol arrived bearing gifts Friday at his home in Pinecrest.

Photo by Sara WrightThe Dougherties Tilden, 5, Burton, 6, and Dennis, 8 score big prizes from Bluffton Elementary School Principal Christine Brown Friday afternoon after she caught the family all reading together in their Pinecrest home.

Before the black SUV drove by, the children of Edgefield swarmed the Friday afternoon streets, jumping curbs on bicycles, gliding on foot-powered scooters and chasing one another like butterflies.

Then the truck passed, turned into a driveway and parked, and two women emerged.

Before a teenage boy, book in hand, answered the door, a kafuffle was heard, along with a shouted whisper: “be reading.”

Bluffton Elementary School Principal Christine Brown and Literacy Coach Melissa Holland worked late on Friday surprising students and their families as the school’s first Reading Prize Patrol.

It felt a whole lot more like play than work, though. As Holland said, “I love playing Santa Claus.”

Down the hallway, a dining room table laden with chicken fingers sat oddly abandoned. Another older sibling smiled from behind a book, as did mom Becky Knutson, an apparently avid reader, even in the middle of dinner time.

When 5-year-old Faith and 8-year-old Jaiden, 8, spotted their principal bearing an enormous gift bag full of new books, pencils and prizes, they finally dropped their books and all pretense of concentration.

Faith just started jumping up and down, and Jaiden cracked a smile a mile wide.

The Reading Prize Patrol was in the house.

“That just made their day,” said Becky Knutson.

As the pair climbed back into Brown’s truck, heavily-stickered with BLES Pride decals for the event, the streets of Edgefield lay still and empty.

The students had run inside, hoping to also be caught in the act of reading.

An occasional child peered out from behind a window, book in hand.

“That’s so funny. There’s not a kid in sight,” Holland said as the Reading Prize Patrol made its way toward Pinecrest.

“They’ll remember this forever that the principal came to their house,” she said.

A quick stop to the Pinecrest home of third grader Victor Hurtado revealed only his abuela at home.

Next on the list: The Dougherties.

“They’ve been on the case since 5:30 p.m.,” said father Patrick Dougherty of his children: Tilden, 5, Burton, 6, and Dennis, 8, as the Reading Prize Patrol pulled up.

“Funny, because I hated reading.”

Inside, all three Bluffton Elementary School students lay or sat buried behind a book. Brown presented the prize bag, filled by the Parent-Teacher Organization with about $100 in books and other prizes. Many of the books are hard cover, because they last longer, Holland said.

“You’ve got a ton of books to add to your book collection,” Brown told Tilden, Burton and Dennis as they gathered around her for a look-see.

Robin Cox, an English Language Arts consultant who works with teachers in the Beaufort County School District, recently visited Bluffton Elementary School to work with the teachers.

“She said that the No. 1 factor for success in school is the number of books you have in your home,” said Holland.

Tilden is just learning how to read. Brown sat with her for a minute as she sounded out the words in one of her new books. Burton, 6, quickly returned to his book-in-progress all about insects. Reading is his favorite thing to do, period, prize patrol or no.

“I’m going to get smart,” he said.

“I tell him ‘reading makes you smart.’ I tell all my kids that so they’ll want to read,” said their mom Jennifer Dougherty.

Providing children and families incentive to read is what the Reading Prize Patrol is all about.

“That was fun,” said Brown afterward, smiling.

“That was fun,” agreed Holland.

“A nice way to end a Friday,” said Brown.

The prize patrol will head out once again in April, and then again in May. Students will be warned of the date ahead of time, and they had better be ready.